EVERGREEN

THE EVERGREEN INVITATIONAL

21-22 February 2026 for debate
22 February 2026 for speech

DEADLINE

16 Feb 2026

ELIGIBILITY

Open to middle and high school students

PLATFORM

Online through NSDA Campus

Information

The Evergreen Valley Speech and Debate Team wholeheartedly welcomes you to the Evergreen Invitational! We’re incredibly excited to host this tournament and strive to create an amazing tournament experience for all events and skill levels.

Please note that this is a live document and subject to change, so you should check back for updates!

General Information

We offer Open Lincoln Douglas, Open Public Forum, and Novice speech but reserve the right to collapse divisions if entries warrant
The tournament reserves the right to adapt the amount or structure of elimination rounds if required by tournament logistics

Locations
All events will be run on NSDA Campus

Debate General Information

In debate, we offer 5 preliminary rounds and will break to double-octofinals in each event, assuming the number of entries warrants this
Based on entries, Debate Prelims and Elim 1 will be double-flighted. Elim 2 and beyond will be single-flighted
Tie-breakers for debate elimination rounds will be win-loss record, opponent seed, and head-to-head. There will not be speaker points in debate events
We will break brackets based on school affiliation
Mavericking is allowed

Speech General Information

In speech, we offer 3 prelim rounds and will break to semifinals in each event, assuming the number of entries warrants this
Speech Prelims and Elimination Rounds will be single flighted
Cross Entry in Speech Events is permitted in up to TWO EVENTS, however, please note that competitors must notify their judges in order to make this possible. This also means that competitors that cross-entry do so at their own risk as speaking order may not always be able to accommodate
Double-entry in speech and debate events is not permitted as the schedule does not allow for it

Events and Divisions

We offer Open divisions for the following Debate events:
- Lincoln Douglas
- Public Forum
We offer Novice divisions for the following Speech events:
- Dramatic Interpretation
- Humorous Interpretation
- Impromptu
- Original Oratory
- Declamation (OI)
The tournament reserves the right to collapse divisions as needed
Debate Events will be held from Saturday to Sunday
Speech Events will be held on Sunday. ALL Speech Events will be held synchronously

Topic Areas
Public Forum: NSDA February 2026 PF Topic
Lincoln Douglas: NSDA January/February 2026 LD Topic

Eligibility

In order to compete in the Novice division, competitors must not have competed in the previous academic year, broken to elimination rounds at 3 or more tournaments in Novice, or broken to elimination rounds in open at any tournaments
Middle-schoolers are welcome if they fit the novice criteria for debate
All Middle-schoolers are welcome for novice speech

Fees and Payment

School Fee: $50
Public Forum: $80 per entry
Lincoln Douglas $65 per entry
Novice HI, DI, OO, Dec (OI), Impromptu $40/entry
EV Invitational will be offering fee discounts for schools who cannot meet the payments. If your school needs a fee discount, please email us and we will get back to you
A limited number of judges for Parliamentary Debate will be available to hire for $250 - if you want to use a tournament hired judge instead of providing your own, email [email protected] at least one week before the tournament (no later than 2/18)
Schools will be fined $150 per round if a judge fails to show up for a round for which they are scheduled
All judge fines must be paid before the start of elimination rounds or competitors will be disqualified

Judge Requirements

Regardless of whether their teams advance to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to be available to judge through the first full elimination round in their division
For schools whose teams advance to elimination rounds, all judges for your school will be obligated until one round after your last team in that division is eliminated
All judges MUST have a tabroom account and paradigm
All judges who are 18+ are accepted

Judge training will be offered at the beginning of the tournament
Schools will be fined $150 per round if a judge fails to show up for a round for which they are scheduled
All judge fines must be paid before the start of elimination rounds or competitors will be disqualified

Judge training information will be updated soon.

Entry Price

LD and parent is judging $115
LD and parent is OPTING OUT of $260

PF and parent is judging $90
PF and parent is OPTING OUT of $230

One Speech Event and parent is judging $90
Two Speech Events and parent is judging $130
One Speech Event and parent is OPTING OUT of $190
Two Speech Events and parent is OPTING OUT of $240

Each person in a PF/Duo team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF/Duo team would need to either provide two judges, both pay the judge fee, or one of each option.

Registration will not be complete until payment is received.

NOTE: We will charge set up fees if we have to create tabroom.com accounts for judges. It is recommended you do so on your own.

Schedule

Please note that all times are in PACIFIC STANDARD TIME (PST).

SPEECH SCHEDULE - click here

DEBATE SCHEDULE - click here

Although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, please keep in mind that there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, if you are signing up for this tournament, please make sure you do not double book yourselves on these dates. Keep your schedule open and DO NOT leave the tournament without notifying the GSA chaperones first.

Drop Fee

Drop fees will be the same amounts as the entry fee PLUS any fees the tournament charges us for late drops. Drop requests should be made to Victor and Nadia.

Please do not drop out last minute to avoid being charged these fees.

Contact Info

Victor Rivas Umana
Contact email: [email protected]
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Registration Form

STUDENT INFORMATION

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (DO NOT USE PARENT'S EMAIL) *

Student Phone Number *

Does the student have a Tabroom account? *

Yes and it is linked with GSA's account(s) Yes but it is not linked and we need you to add to your roster No but I will create one before submitting registration

If this is your first time competing, make sure to first create a Tabroom account here: https://www.tabroom.com/user/login/new_user.mhtml
It's super simple and quick (<1 minute), but follow the guidelines here in case anything is confusing: https://docs.tabroom.com/Sign_Up

PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION
Double entry in SPEECH is permitted, but cross-entry in both speech & debate is NOT PERMITTED.

JUDGE PROVISION

Will you (parent) be judging at this tournament? *

Judge Name *

Judge email (Must be linked to a tabroom account. Register first at tabroom.com before completing this sign up) *

Judge phone *

Does your judge have a Tabroom account? *

Yes No but I will create one before submitting registration Not judging

Does your judge understand that he/she is responsible for the entire tournament schedule and that missing a round incurs fines from the tournament? *

Yes, understood Not judging but understood as well

Click here to complete the highly recommended Cultural Competency judge training course

Signing up a judge without having a Tabroom account will result in us charging you for the set up fee.
You can do this easily on your own by going to tabroom.com. It literally takes less than a minute.

First time judging?
This is a great collection of short videos that one of the leagues have put together to learn each event: click here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

Tournaments encourage judges to have a paradigm on their Tabroom account, which can be a few sentences on your preferences of debating styles, etc. See here for example. It doesn't need to be this long, but make sure to add something before you sign up. For example: "I am a parent, please speak clearly and slowly and avoid technical jargon".

More tournament resources can be found here.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

I will keep a copy of this form for reference. *

YES

We are signing up with the understanding that my child will work to be ready by the tournament date. If we choose to drop out because my child is not ready that will be considered when making assessments for future classes. *

YES

I understand that if I fail to drop the tournament before the deadline that I will still be responsible for the fees of both my son or daughter, along with that of his or her partner and the fines. *

YES

I understand that if payment is not received we won't be registered and our spot will be given up to someone else. *

YES

I confirm that I have completed all necessary paperwork for this tournament. *

YES

I understand that The Golden State Academy has no control over tournament entries other than the initial sign up. I understand that my child's priority will be based on either the last time I signed up OR the date paid, whichever is latest. *

YES

I understand that my child must check in and check out periodically at the tournament with the coach and that if I do not my child will be barred from participating in following tournaments. This is to ensure coaches can see where students are at competitively and to give any initial feedback for improvement. *

YES

I understand that I can check my entry status through tabroom.com. *

YES

I am a consenting adult. I understand that by submitting this form I agree to all that has been covered. *

YES

Submit/take to payment

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

M-F: 3:45 pm - 8:30 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Telephone

510-270-8480
510-470-0531

Email (preferred)

For more info email us at: [email protected]

Locations

Fremont: 200 Brown Rd #201, Fremont, CA 94539

Cupertino: 20432 Silverado Avenue Suite 211, Cupertino, CA 95014

Aborn Institute: 2804 Riedel Road, San Jose, CA 95135

Dublin: Loving Tree Academy, 6693 Owens Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588

THE EVERGREEN INVITATIONAL ​

21-22 February 2026 for debate22 February 2026 for speech